@Anna1403
Shwmae, Anna!
Really lovely to hear of not only a fellow eco warrior host, but also one just down the coast from us, here in Ceredigion!
Just thought I'd share with you/the community what we're doing re sustainability too. This is going to sound like a Pat on the back to myself, but it is really partly a culmination of a lifetime of hopes beginning to come to fruition. I'm a Grandmother, and started caring about this planet and the life on it when I was a young girl. Back then, recycling was scoffed at by economists as not profitable. Don't get me started!
So we host a little cabin, with various lovely quirks, from our smallholding. (Tangnefedd, meaning 'heavenly peace' or similar) We have a waterless toilet, use renewable electricity, have, solar pv panels, I buy recycled paper for the waterless loo. We buy our tissue, both loo and kitchen paper from the company, 'Who Gives a Crap' which gives half its profits to build toilets in developing countries, a health and safety issue in communities without a safe place especially for girls to go when nature calls. We have also twinned the loo via the initiative 'Toilet Twinning'. We have dedicated a large section of our land to conservation, having planted lots of trees for woodland, and some for firewood, as we have a woodburner, too. I have alsways used washable cleaning cloths and mops, and use washable PPE too. I give guests the option, with microfibre cloths left under the sink, and they do seem to be using that more often than the paper wrapped Kitchen towel. By not unwrapping the new roll, often it just doesn't get used, and so I can just wash the cloths. I bought loads of cleaning fluids from companies like AlterNative, Ecover and the like, in bulk. I then refill and reuse all my sprayers and have nice hand wash dispensers that can be refilled in the WC/shower for guests. I have various books available for guests to read that include the concepts of sustainability and conservation, to browse if they wish, and we include homemade fruit preserves in breakfasts, which I make using home produced fruits. We even made the furniture from silver birch we had growing in our woodland, so not much carbon footprint there. We simply have to buy 2nd hand furniture, and often consider it to be better made unless you have plenty to spend, but it all reduces waste. I handmade some of the furnishings with organic cotton, and used scraps to make cushion covers and a big floor cushion. So thanks so much for raising this as the environment is very close to my heart, even more now that I have a precious little granddaughter's future to consider, and all her generation. Hwyl! Judith